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It had all started since that goddamned Snack Bar-gayo content they had done during Love Language promotions.
That peppero game, or how Soobin would start referring to it since that day; the game from hell. Somehow he had expected to play it with Taehyun, and truthfully hoped for it, as he knew the boy was very set on boundaries and personal space, a quality Soobin very much appreciated and needed in these sort of moments his job put him in, but life doesn’t always work in your favor. He got paired with Kai. It wasn’t like Soobin had anything against Kai. God, he loved the kid. And that wasn’t only because he very much had had an insanely huge, embarrassing crush on the younger years prior that had left him with a soft spot. Soobin simply worried about his ability to keep still, I mean, how can he keep a straight face when Kai is all up in his face?
That’s what he told himself, at least.
He honestly hadn’t expected the nonchalant expression the younger had on his face, was he truly not as bothered as he was? Was Soobin the only one feeling the stifling heat in the room?
Soobin closed his eyes as soon as he saw Kai close the distance, for better or for worse, maybe not seeing him would help act that this was totally normal. It is totally fine and normal for idols to do this…13 years ago, but who cares? It’s not like Soobin hadn’t thought about having that gorgeous face all against him. Maybe in a not-so-open space, with a peppero in between and a thousand alarms ringing in his head that perhaps this wasn’t the best course in action, but still.
It was over as soon as it happened, really. Soobin had tried to laugh it off in the middle, a way of showing he wasn’t in fact overwhelmed, and maybe this wasn’t even a kiss, but it was the idea that this could’ve been one in another world. In another universe where he had told Kai his feelings at least two years prior and he reciprocated them, where somehow the world knew too, and where having his breath this close to his mouth wasn’t just for a game, but for a sweet, tender kiss between lovers. But, alas, this wasn’t that universe.
It wasn’t like Soobin hadn’t previously tried to move on from his feelings; countless dates with flings that only led to good friendships with idols proved it. At the end of it he just couldn’t let go of Kai, he liked everything about him, from his kind eyes to his pretty hands and his overly gracious demeanor.
No matter what Soobin tried he just wouldn’t be able to fade away the shadow Kai had imprinted on his heart.
—
Six months later and things had simply gotten worse, or better, as Beomgyu liked to tell Soobin. As official best friends, it wasn’t really a secret between them the overly huge crush the older had on Kai, especially after the many times Beomgyu had caught him love struck.
“Man, you genuinely need to stop it,” he had said one day during their usual LoL game sessions
“Mm…” he had been too preoccupied eating a slice of pizza before starting up a new round, “What?”
“Your crush,” Beomgyu had said in a teasing voice, “your gigantic crush on Kai, to be precise. It was okay a year ago, but right now? I’m surprised no one else has said anything.”
That’s when things became a bit too real for Soobin’s liking. Was he really that obvious? I mean, not like he expected less from his best friend to notice, but it’d be very hard to continue acting a fool in front of Yeonjun and Taehyun.
He knew his sexuality wasn’t an issue, but potentially screwing up his team’s dynamic certainly made him self-conscious of his feelings. Yeonjun and Beomgyu had their own…complicated, to say the least, arrangement, and Taehyun, well he had always been secretive of his dates, yet he knew for a fact there was nothing to worry about. His members were awesome and loving, so why was he still so scared of rejection? So scared of making the jump?
Kai was his best, kindest, loveliest friend in the entire world. Someone he hadn’t ever let go since the moment he first laid eyes on; just a kid wearing some t-shirt and shorts, pale as ever, small and scared without anyone besides him. It just drew him in, how could he be there? In this system, a fucked up one, when he was barely a teenager? Soobin just knew he would do anything in his power to help him.
It wasn’t like he had always loved or even liked Kai like that. Soobin had spent years of their training life babying him, never scared of calling him cute or hugging him like he was his own little brother. Until a bit before debut, in one of those dreaded monthly evaluations, Kai had simply become another. Despite the long, hard hours he had spent practicing some top-20 song at the time all he had gotten was a half-smile and a nod, he held his head high, a confidence Soobin hadn’t seen yet and that intrigued him; he had mistakenly thought Kai would need his protection of all the evil in the world, like he wasn’t capable of being strong.
Since then he had realized how wrong he was. Kai had become the bravest person he knew.
Which brought him to the recent events.
TOMORROW X TOGETHER’S HUENING KAI CAUGHT IN A SCANDAL